Fernando Alvarez de Toledo y Pimentel
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, also Ferdinandus Toletanus Dux Albanus (Piedrahíta, October 29, 1507-Tomar, December 11, 1582), called « the Grand Duke of Alba ” and “the Great”, was a Castilian nobleman, soldier and diplomat, III Duke of Alba de Tormes, IV Marquis of Coria, III Count of Salvatierra de Tormes, II Count of Piedrahíta and VIII span> Lord of Valdecorneja, Grandee of Spain and Knight of the Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece. He was the most important of the representatives of the House of Toledo or House of Álvarez de Toledo.
He was the most trusted and obedient man of King Carlos I of Spain and his son and successor, Felipe II of Spain, chief steward of both, member of their State and War Councils, governor of the Duchy of Milan (1555-1556), Viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples (1556-1558), Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (1567-1573), and Viceroy and Constable of the Kingdom of Portugal (1580-1582). He represented Felipe II in his betrothal to Elizabeth of Valois and Anne of Austria, who were the monarch's third and fourth—and last—wives respectively.
He is considered by historians as the best general of his time and one of the best in history. He distinguished himself in the Day of Tunis (1535), participating in the victory of Charles I over the Ottoman pirate Barbarossa which restored the predominance of the Hispanic Monarchy over the western Mediterranean Sea—, and in battles such as Mühlberg (1547), in which the army of Emperor Charles defeated the German Protestant princes—.
He eternalized his memory by suppressing the rebellion in the Netherlands, where he acted with great rigor punishing the rebels, establishing the Court of Riots and totally defeating the troops of Luis de Nassau in the Battle of Jemmingen and William of Orange in the Battle of Jodoigne in the opening moments of the Eighty Years' War.
He crowned his already old career with the succession crisis in Portugal in 1580, defeating the Portuguese troops of the pretender Antonio, prior of Crato, in the Battle of Alcántara and conquering that kingdom for Felipe II. Thanks to his military genius, Spain achieved the unification of all the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula and the consequent expansion of overseas territories.
On December 26, 1566, he received the Golden Rose, the rapier and blessed hat granted by Pope Pius V, through the brief Solent Romani Pontifices, as a reward for his singular efforts in favor of of Catholicism and for being considered one of its champions.
He was a comrade in arms, friend and protector of the poet and soldier Garcilaso de la Vega, who dedicated part of his Eclogue II to extol the house of Alba and its duke.
Their motto in Latin was Deo patrum nostrorum, which in Spanish means To the God of our fathers.
His figure is one of the most important in the Spanish black legend, which describes him as a true warlord, famous and intrepid but, at the same time, brutal, implacable and severe to the extreme. Even so, Alba was the greatest hero that Spain has produced and one of the first men of his century and an indisputable leader, tough, strong and respectful of his men. The speeches where he said, "gentlemen soldiers", delighted the Tercios, his elite troops. He used to express:
Kings use men as if they were oranges, first they squeeze the juice and then throw the shell.
Biography
Early Years
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo was born in Piedrahíta, province of Ávila, on October 29, 1507. He was the son of García Álvarez de Toledo y Zúñiga, heir to Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo and Enríquez de Quiñones, II Duke of Alba de Tormes, and Beatriz Pimentel y Pacheco, daughter of Rodrigo Alonso Pimentel, IV Count-I Duke of Benavente and his wife, María Pacheco.
Following the dynastic line, García would have been the third duke, but he died in a campaign in Africa in 1510, on the island of Yerba or Los Gelves, for which Fernando was orphaned at three years of age. When Fadrique died, in 1531, the ducal title passed directly to his grandson Fernando from him as Garcia's eldest son.
The archetype of the nobility of Castile, he was educated in the ducal court of the house of Alba, located in the Castle of the Dukes of Alba, in Alba de Tormes, by two Italian tutors, Bernardo Gentile —Sicilian Benedictine— and Severo Marini and by the Spanish Renaissance poet and writer Juan Boscán who formed him in Catholicism and humanism. He was fluent in Latin and knew French, English and German.
Since his youth he was always in the service of the Spanish monarchs, either King Carlos I of Spain and Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire in principle or his son, King Philip II of Spain later, both as a soldier, courtier, diplomat, ruler and adviser.
His dedication to arms was constant from a very young age, to the point that at only six years old he accompanied his grandfather to Navarre with the army that took it. In 1524, when he was seventeen years old, he joined the troops of the Constable of Castilla Íñigo de Velasco, without family permission, who besieged and surrendered the Plaza de Fuenterrabía, occupied by the French and Navarrese; Due to his intervention in the successful contest, he was appointed Governor of Fuenterrabía. He later defeated the French army at Perpignan.
Against the Ottomans and pirates
Already being the Duke of Alba, he responded in 1532 to the call of the King and Emperor Charles and went to Vienna, accompanied by his friend Garcilaso de la Vega, to defend it from the harassment of the Ottoman Empire. It was not necessary to enter into combat, as seen by the formidable imperial army of more than 200,000 men, the Ottoman Turks lifted the siege.
Where he did have the opportunity to fight was in the Tunis Day: at the beginning of June 1535 he embarked in Cagliari with the military contingent commanded by the Marquis del Vasto; On July 14, he fell the fortress of La Goleta and a week later the city of Tunis itself, defended by Barbarossa. In this way Spain regained control over the entire western Mediterranean Sea. From that campaign against the pirates, Duke Fernando was able to recover the armor of his father, García, who had died on the island of Los Gelves in 1510, and which he transferred to the armories of the ducal house to be there a perpetual trophy of glory and virtue to their descendants.
Again in 1541 he accompanied the emperor in command of the German tercios against Barbarossa in the Day of Algiers that culminated in the Ottoman victory caused mainly by a storm.
Carlos' senior butler
In 1541 Fernando Álvarez de Toledo was appointed by Carlos I as mayordomo of the King of Spain and, therefore, superior head of his house, entrusting him with the important tasks related to the Royal House and Heritage of the Crown of Spain. Alba held office at court until the monarch's death in 1558.
Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
In 1546, the III Duke of Alba obtained a new recognition that increased his personal prestige. He was invested by Emperor Charles, who was the Grand Master of the Insigne Order of the Golden Fleece, a knight of this prestigious institution as a reward for the duke's fidelity to the monarch-emperor. The distinction was granted to him in the chapter that was held in Utrecht, taking the emperor with him to Regensburg where he had convened the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire.
In Germany
In 1547 the emperor had to face the Protestant forces of the Schmalkaldic League commanded by John Frederick I of Saxony - the langrave of Thuringia - and Philip the Magnanimous - the landgrave of Hesse - and their allies.
The Duke of Alba was in command of the Spanish Tercios who intervened in the battle of Mühlberg, on the banks of the Elbe River, with the victory of the imperial arms against the forces of the Schmalcald League. The participation of the Grand Duke in the advice given to Carlos V and his command of the Spanish Tercios were fundamental and ended up deciding the battle.
From then on, the Duke of Alba was always at the emperor's side, fighting faithfully to preserve the Habsburg dynasty.
Felipe's major butler
Starting in 1548, King Charles intensified the preparations for Prince Philip as his successor to the Hispanic Monarchy. To this end, he appointed the Duke of Alba —who already held the position of mayordomo of the King of Spain— mayordomo of his son and entrusted him with adapting the ceremonial and court etiquette of the house of Castile to those of the house of Burgundy., a ceremonial that was considered more complete, rich, modern and more appropriate for the prestige and international recognition of the Spanish court. Fernando undertook a trip through Europe with Philip that lasted until 1551.
After King Carlos died, the new King Felipe II kept Alba in the position of mayordomo of the King of Spain, during a large part of his reign and until the death of the duke in 1582.
In England
The Duke of Alba personally accompanied Prince Philip to England on the occasion of his second marriage to Queen Mary I of England, of the House of Tudor. He was one of the fifteen Grandees of Spain who attended the ceremony at Winchester Cathedral on July 25, 1554.
Governor of the Duchy of Milan and Viceroy of Naples
In 1555 the conflict between France and Spain intensified in Italy; the III Duke of Alba was sent there as captain general, governor of Milan (1555) and viceroy of Naples (1556).
The newly appointed Pope Paul IV, a visceral enemy of the Habsburgs, incited King Henry II of France to expel the Spanish from Italy, for which he joined his own troops to those of the French while in July 1556 he declared Felipe II dispossessed of his title of King of Naples. The duke did not wait any longer and headed for Rome at the head of 12,000 soldiers; Faced with such a threat, the Pope requested a parleyed truce, time that he took advantage of for a French army commanded by Francisco de Guisa to enter northern Italy and march towards Naples. Alba chose to avoid a pitched battle, reinforcing the defenses of the main cities while waiting for the Gallic army, far from its bases, to end up surrendering. The duke's tactic achieved the expected results. For this reason and before the call of Enrique II as a result of the overwhelming victory of Spain over the French in the Battle of San Quentin, the Duke of Guise had to hastily return to France. Without French support, the papal troops were overwhelmed by the Spanish and the Duke of Alba entered Rome victorious in September 1557. The pope sued for peace and obtained it.
In 1559 the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis was signed between the kings of Spain and France, which was the most important treaty in Europe in the 20th century XVI, whose validity lasted for a century. By this treaty Spain began its preponderance in the West and the Italian peninsula obtained a long period of tranquility. Peace between the two powers was sealed through the marriage between the Spanish monarch —twice widower— and Isabel de Valois, the daughter of the French King Henry II. At the royal wedding, which was held in Paris, "by proxy," it was Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, who represented Felipe II and symbolically took possession of the bridal bed.
Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands
During the course of August to October of the year 1566, the Storm of the images or Assault on the images took place in the Habsburg Netherlands, during which the Calvinist Protestants provoked an iconoclasm, and opposed to the Catholic images, desecrated places of worship and destroyed statues in churches and monasteries. The outrages began in Saint-Omer and quickly spread to Ypres, Antwerp, and from there to the rest of the provinces. The religious revolt soon turned into a civil one.
On December 26, 1566, Alba received as gifts from Pope Pius V the Golden Rose, the rapier and blessed hat, granted through the brief Solent Romani Pontifices. This was the prize for his singular efforts in favor of Catholicism that considered him one of its champions.
To put a stop to both the civil and religious unrest, King Philip II sent the III Duke of Alba in command of a powerful army that left Milan on June 20, 1567 for Flanders, commanding 10,000 men, to reduce the Calvinist rebellion in the Netherlands. This was the first tour of the Spanish Way, completing the approximately 1,000 kilometers in 56 days, arriving in Brussels on August 15, 1567. Upon his arrival, he replaced Margaret of Parma, the natural half-sister of the Spanish king, as responsible for civil jurisdiction and quickly realized that the local nobility was in open rebellion against King Felipe II and openly supported the Protestant current.
A few days later, on September 5, he established the Court of Riots, popularly known in the Netherlands as the "Court of Blood", to try those responsible for the riots of the previous year and especially heretics. Lamoral, Count of Egmont and Catholic general in the service of Felipe II who led the cavalry that defeated the French in the battle of San Quentin (1557) and Felipe de Montmorency, Count of Horn, two of the three leaders of the uprising, they were captured. The court acted with extraordinary rigor and sentenced the counts and another numerous group to death.
The sentence was carried out on June 5, 1568 in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Brussels. The Duke of Alba had little confidence in Flemish justice and he himself witnessed the executions. At the execution of the Earl of Egmont, who was his personal friend whom he respected, he could not contain his tears. He never regretted or had remorse for these sentences. He even petitioned his king for a life pension for the Earl of Egmont's widow.
I feel great compassion for the Countess of Egmont and the poor people he leaves. I beseech Your Majesty to take pity on them and to give them a mercy with which they can sustain themselves, for with the dowry of the countess they have not enough to feed one year, and Your Majesty will forgive me for giving my opinion before I am commanded to do so. The countess is here considered a saint, and it is true that since her husband was imprisoned there have been few nights when she and her daughters have not been covered and barefoot to visit many places of devotion of this city, and before now they had a good reputation.
On the other hand, the maintenance of the troops taken to Flanders entailed large economic expenses that forced the duke to impose new taxes on the population. Some cities, including Utrecht, refused to pay the tithe tax and declared themselves in default. The rebellion quickly spread through the Netherlands.
On July 21, 1568, the Duke of Alba, in the Battle of Jemmingen, overwhelmingly defeated the rebel army of the Netherlands commanded by Luis de Nassau.
This state of affairs led to the intervention from abroad of the third leader of the uprising, the rebellious Prince of Orange, Guillermo Nassau, "the Taciturn", who had the help of the French Huguenots. Numerous cities were taken by force of arms. The Spanish troops advanced under banners with the Latin legend Pro lege, rege, et grege, which in Spanish means "By the law, the king and the people."
The Duke of Alba had the collaboration of his son Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Enríquez de Guzmán, who arrived that year and was appointed commander of the army of the Spanish Crown in the Spanish Netherlands under his father's orders.
Once again, the Duke of Alba faced the new mercenary army of the Dutch rebels commanded this time by William of Nassau himself and defeated them in the battle of Jodoigne on October 16, 1568.
At the same time that he carried out permanent military actions, the Duke of Alba was also busy carrying out reforms during his rule of the Netherlands. In 1570 he published the Criminal Law Ordinance, which granted people adequate protection against arbitrary decisions and procedural guarantees for their rights.
Alba also dedicated himself to carrying out a profound ecclesiastical reform, with a typically Spanish and royalist foundation, making the new hierarchy one of the best in Europe.
In accordance with the resolution of the Council of Trent, he made a compilation of condemned books and prohibited them.
The Duke of Alba was concerned with universities, paying particular attention to the University of Leuven and the University of Dole.
In the fiscal aspect, Alba applied a reform based on the establishment of the alcabala. This tax reform was intended to exempt no segment of the community from sharing the burden - and since the wealthiest section of the population was already exempt from virtually all forms of taxation, only a sales tax could prevent them from the weight of the contribution fell on the poorest sectors-. However, these reforms were strongly resisted and fueled general discontent in favor of a new general revolt in 1572.
Alarmed by the situation, Philip II sent to the Netherlands, as governor, the IV Duke of Medinaceli, Juan de la Cerda y Silva, who arrived in the spring of 1572.
For the new governor
The excessive rigor, the misconduct of certain officers and soldiers, and the Décima are the cause of all evils, and not heresy or rebellion [...].
Also -since the name of the House of Alba was considered abhorrent by many- Medinaceli tried to convince the king to dismiss the Duke of Alba as military commander.
In that same year the Tercios, commanded by Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, produced the Sack of Mechelen and later occupied Zutphen, Alkmaar and Naarden. The Siege of Haarlem by the Spanish, in which both sides were characterized by their brutality and savagery, culminated in the surrender of the city and the execution of its entire garrison, estimated at 2,000 men. These terrible military campaigns and the harsh repression with which the III Duke of Alba acted against the Flemish rebels earned him the nickname of "The Iron Duke" in the Netherlands.
Since the opinions of both dukes were incompatible and given the delicate military situation in the Netherlands, King Felipe II decided to maintain confidence in Alba and relieved Medinaceli of his duties as governor.
But despite the fact that the military actions were constant, the political situation did not improve in any way. The numerous complaints received at the court of Felipe II, among them those of the scholar Benito Arias Montano, against the methods used in Flanders, during the years of repression and the actions of the Court of Riots - which sentenced a total of 8,957 people between 1567 and 1576 of which 1083 were executed and 20 exiled - decided that Felipe II changed his policy.
The king, influenced by opponents of the duke, was in favor of both revoking the alcabala and granting a general pardon. Fernando, on the other hand, was opposed to the elimination of the tax -which he considered essential to be able to finance the costs incurred by both the civil administration and the military campaign in the Netherlands- and although he accepted a pardon, it should not be general but rather limited -since it had to be done with exceptions and the names of the excluded people should be fully mentioned, especially those who had participated in the riots of 1566-.
Philip II decided to relieve the Duke of Alba. In his place, the monarch sent Luis de Requesens who chose to use less force and give more concessions to the rebels. Alba and his son Fadrique returned to Spain in 1573.
State Counselor
Despite everything, the Duke of Alba still counted in the deliberations of the Council of State that advised the King of Spain on the foreign policy of the Hispanic Monarchy.
Duke Ferdinand belonged, since the time of King Carlos I, to the hard or conservative wing of the Spanish court called albista or imperials. In this faction was the inquisitor general Fernando de Valdés, the Pimentels, the Duke of Alburquerque and other members of the Álvarez de Toledo house.
This faction disputed the affairs of the kingdom with the softer or liberal position called ebolista or humanistas, led by Ruy Gómez de Silva, prince of Éboli and his secretary Francisco de Eraso. The Enríquez family, the Duke of Gandía, the Duke of Medinaceli and Luis de Requesens were also on this side. After the death of the prince of Éboli, in 1573, Antonio Pérez, the royal secretary went on to lead the liberal faction and began his association with Ana de Mendoza de la Cerda, princess of Éboli.
Although the albistas advised the king to maintain a firm position on the question of the Netherlands, King Philip II himself publicly acknowledged that
It is not possible to carry forward the Flanders by the way of war.
The monarch ordered Luis de Requesens to negotiate with the rebels. The negotiations resulted in the reform of the Court of Riots, the obtaining of a general pardon, the revocation of the alcabala although religious freedom was not granted. But these negotiations did not turn out to be enough, so the governor had to restart hostilities against the rebels and died on the battlefield.
For their part, at court, the actions of the ebolistas in state affairs provoked the distrust of the king.
All this determined that Felipe II once again gave the Duke of Alba superior treatment at court.
Ephemeral banishment
The disputes between the ebolistas did not stop. The faction, in addition to attacking the Duke of Alba himself without much result, attacked the second matrimonial son and heir of Duke Fernando, Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo and Enríquez de Guzmán, who had given promises of marriage to Magdalena de Guzmán, lady of the Queen Ana of Austria, but did not comply, which had cost her the arrest and imprisonment in the Castillo de La Mota, in Medina del Campo (Valladolid), in 1566.
The following year he had been released so that he could march with his father to Flanders to serve in the army.
Back at court, King Felipe II, in 1576, ordered Fadrique's imprisonment in the royal castle of Tordesillas for his actions in Flanders.
In 1578 Felipe II ordered the reopening of the proceedings against Fadrique, during which it was discovered that in order to avoid his wedding with the claimant, Fadrique had married, for the third time, secretly and by proxy, to María Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, daughter of García Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, IV Marquis of Villafranca del Bierzo, using an authorization issued for that purpose by her father, the Duke of Alba, in contravention of the king's provisions.
The Duke of Alba was banished from court for a period of one year, from where he went into exile to Uceda with the prohibition to leave the town. The annual banishment was
For breaking the strict protocol of La Corte.
His secretaries Fernando de Albornoz and Esteban de Ibarra were also imprisoned.
The color of fear
When King Sebastián I of Portugal was planning his expedition to Morocco in North Africa—which ended in the disastrous and tremendous defeat at the Battle of Alcazarquivir—he met his uncle, and shortly thereafter successor, King Felipe II, in the presence of the old Duke of Alba. They both tried to dissuade him. The King of Spain, displaying his skills as a statesman and the Duke of Alba through his excellent knowledge as a brave military man and eminent strategist. When the experienced Spanish general expressed his objections, the fiery Portuguese king responded impetuously
What color is fear?
The Duke of Alba answered him
The color of prudence.
Conqueror of Portugal
The death of King Sebastián I of Portugal in the battle of Alcazarquivir, in 1578, without direct descendants to succeed him on the throne, made the crown fall to his great-uncle, Cardinal Enrique I of Portugal. His death, also without heirs, caused the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580.
The regency council in Portugal was in favor of handing over the throne to King Philip II of Spain, who was entitled to the Lusitanian crown because his mother had been Isabella of Portugal —the second daughter of King Manuel I of Portugal and of his second wife María de Aragón y Castilla, being therefore, Infanta of Portugal by birth.
However, another claimant to the throne, Antonio, Prior of Crato, a bastard son of the Infante Luis de Avis and therefore a grandson of Manuel I, proclaimed himself king in June 1580.
In order to militarily neutralize the monarchist pretensions of the prior of Crato, Felipe II quickly rehabilitated Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, who was famous for being an excellent general and whose services he needed again.
The king entrusted the old duke, who was 72 years old and enjoyed enormous popularity in command of the troops, with the mission of conquering Portugal. He agreed to Felipe's new charge, telling him that
You are the only monarch of the earth that you draw from prison to a general to give you another crown.
The duke, appointed captain general, assembled his forces, estimated at 40,000 men, in Badajoz, and in June of that same year crossed the Spanish-Portuguese border and advanced towards Lisbon. On August 25, 1580, he defeated the Portuguese army of General Diego de Meneses in the battle of Alcántara and entered the city triumphantly, clearing the way for the arrival of Felipe II who became King Felipe I of Portugal, achieving the union dynastic aeque principaliter with the other kingdoms of the Hispanic Monarchy under the House of Habsburg. Thus, the Spanish Empire reached its apogee.
King Felipe II rewarded Fernando Álvarez de Toledo with the position of I Viceroy of Portugal, on July 18, 1580, representing the Spanish monarch as King of Portugal in the dynastic union and also with the title of Constable of Portugal, which meant for the Duke of Alba to be the second person in the hierarchy after the king himself, both powers that he held until his death.
Death
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo died in Tomar, a town near Lisbon, on December 11, 1582, assisted by the famous fray Luis de Granada, at the age of seventy-four. He kept until the last moment all his manner and bravery and also his courageous appearance, which even before the monarchs themselves was the figure of his greatness of spirit and his intelligence.
Three things I will say to Your Majesty; the one is that your business was not offered, even though it was very small, that it did not antepose to mine, even if it was very important; the second, is that greater care I always had to look for your estate than for mine and so I am not in charge of a single bread to You or any of your vassals; the third, is that I never proposed a name for any position that was not the most sufficient of it.
His remains were transferred to Alba de Tormes, where he was buried in the convent of San Leonardo. In 1619 they were transferred to the convent of San Esteban de Salamanca, where since 1983 they have rested in a convent chapel that contains a tomb designed by Chueca Goitia and paid for by the Salamanca Provincial Council.
Marriage and children
The first son of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo was Fernando de Toledo (1527-1591), the result of a relationship with a miller from the nearby town of La Aldehuela.
The future Duke of Alba married his cousin María Enríquez de Toledo y Guzmán or María Enríquez Álvarez de Toledo (d. 1583) on April 27, 1529 —the first daughter of the five daughters Diego Enríquez de Toledo had. Guzmán, III Count of Alba de Liste with his first wife Aldonza Leonor Álvarez de Toledo y Zúñiga, legitimate daughter of the II Duke of Alba de Tormes, Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo and Enríquez de Quiñones and his wife Isabel de Zúñiga y Pimentel—, with the who had four children, three boys and one girl.
- García Álvarez de Toledo y Enríquez de Guzmán (July 23, 1530-1548).
- Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo and Enríquez de Guzmán, IV Duke of Alba de Tormes (21 November 1537 - 11 December 1583).
- Diego Alvarez de Toledo and Enríquez de Guzmán (6 November 1542-10 July 1583), great prior of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, in Castile and General of the Imperial Army in his struggle against the communers, married on 24 March 1565, with Brianda de Beaumont (1540-1588), V Countess de Lerín and Counttable of Navarre, daughter of Louis de Beaumont. His son Antonio Álvarez de Toledo and Beaumont, V duque de Alba de Tormes (1568 - 29 January 1639).
- Beatriz Álvarez de Toledo and Enríquez de Guzmán (m. 1637), married Alvaro Pérez Osorio, V marquis de Astorga, VI count of Trastámara, V conde de Santa Marta de Ortigueira, lord of the county of Villalobos and V alferez mayor of the Pendon de la Divisa del Rey.
Ancestors
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The palace castle of Alba de Tormes
The military successes of the Grand Duke of Alba that accompanied him throughout his life as general of the kings Carlos I and Felipe II did not tarnish the work that Fernando dispensed to the ducal castle of the House of Álvarez de Toledo, located in Alba de Tormes and known as the Castle of the Dukes of Alba.
The building, conceived as a fortress, continued to preserve its military purpose. Fernando carried out reforms in order to incorporate the typical star shape of the artillery fortifications of his time. But the III Duke also made suitable modifications to the uses and Renaissance protocol. The Grand Duke of Alba assumed "the identity of the great triumphant generals at the service of the Christian empire and, the artistic language of ducal iconography," he assumed "the heroism of the ancient and the formal paradigm of classical art".
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo embellished the palace by hiring the services of the architect Benvenuto and the painters Thomás de Florencia and Cristoforo Passini. The galleries were adorned with Carrara marble, shipped from the port of Genoa to Cartagena and, from there, he continued on his way in carts until he arrived at the ducal palace. Fernando also added his own bust, made by the Italian sculptor Leone Leoni and a canvas also with his portrait, the work of Titian.
Powers
| Predecessor: Ferrante Gonzaga Prince of Molfetto |  1555-1556 | Successor: Cristoforo Madruzzo cardinal and bishop of Trento |
| Predecessor: Bernardino de Mendoza | 1556-1558 | Successor: Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo |
| Predecessor: Margarita de Parma | 1567 - 1573 | Successor: Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga |
| Predecessor: New creation | 1580-1582 | Successor: Albert of Austria |
| Predecessor: Juan I, Duke of Braganza | 1581-1582 | Successor: Theodosius II of Braganza |
Titles of nobility
| Predecessor: Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo, II Duke of Alba de Tormes |  1531-1582 | Successor: Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo, IV Duke of Alba de Tormes |
| Predecessor: García Álvarez de Toledo,III marquis de Coria | IV Marquis de Coria 1510 - 1582 | Successor: Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo, V Marquis de Coria |
| Predecessor: Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, II count of Salvatierra de Tormes | III count of Salvatierra de Tormes 1531 - 1582 | Successor: Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, IV count of Salvatierra de Tormes |
| Predecessor: Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, II Count of Piedrahita | III count of Piedrahita 1531 - 1582 | Successor: Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, IV Count of Piedrahita |
| Predecessor: Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo, VII lord of Valdecorneja | VIII Lord of Valdecorneja 1531 - 1582 | Successor: Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo,IX lord of Valdecorneja |
As a General
The Duke of Alba was not characterized so much by his skill on the battlefield but rather stood out as a general for his ability to overcome the enemy —before reaching it— for his discipline and ingenuity.
By 1543 Duke Fernando was the first soldier in Spain, and it can also be said that of the empire, since the Marquis del Vasto, the only general left to the emperor of those trained in Italy, had declined with age and with misfortunes. That year Carlos V appointed him captain general of all his kingdoms, of its coasts and borders and of all the people of war due to his precise qualities of authority, prudence, experience and public opinion.
The perfect example is the German campaign of 1546 where he managed to dissolve the opposing army without fighting, exhausting it with maneuvers, skirmishes and encampments.
Austere and implacable, both with himself and with his subordinates and opponents, he did not like to sacrifice the blood of his soldiers, but he did like to sacrifice their sweat. He made them work without giving them rest, to make them victorious, tired and alive. But he always shared the hardships with his subordinates who respected him for it: the common soldiers and the old soldiers even more than the aristocrats.